Under the new agreement, Wego.com will give Shopping.com users the opportunity to search over a hundred travel websites to compare airlines, travel agents, hotel chains and accommodation quickly at one easy-to-use location.
The partnership with Wego.com is expected to generate a boost in visitors and an even more complete comparison shopping experience on Shopping.com, which is already Australia’s number one comparison shopping site with over one million unique visitors per month.

Robert Tomkinson, Director at Shopping.com says, “I am thrilled to be able to announce our partnership with leading travel search engine site, Wego.com. With the travel industry in Australia worth approximately $10 billion per year, there is a clear and growing consumer need for easy to find information and the best deals online. By offering this service, Shopping.com now provides Australians a full range of products to satisfy every online shopping desire, from travel, to financial products, to electronics, clothing and gifts.”

Craig Hewett, Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Wego.com said, “Wego offers the most comprehensive price comparisons for travel products, allowing users to search across multiple travel sites to help them find the best deals. We’re delighted to enhance the user experience of Shopping.com users by offering Wego’s search capabilities.”

For More Information on Shopping.com please contact:
Mike Maurice
02 8303 6464
mike@zing.net.au

About Shopping.com
Shopping.com makes online shopping simple and convenient by bringing a comprehensive set of products from all across the Web to one accessible starting point – helping consumers easily find what they need in less time. Shopping.com provides shoppers with unbiased product reviews and useful search tools to make it easy to buy the right products at the right price. Shopping.com has created an informative and trusted shopping destination which encourages shoppers to make buying decisions with confidence.

About Wego.com
Wego.com (formerly Bezurk.com) and its Australia site wego.com.au allow travellers to search for flights, hotels, travel deals and travel research across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book.  Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the Australian digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor. In 2007, Business 2.0 magazine named Bezurk as one of “31 of the world’s hottest international web startups”. For more information, please visit www.wego.com/about.

1 - Take a short shopping trip with your partner in Hongkong. Singapore Airfares to Hongkong starting from SGD $128*.
2 - Relax and enjoy the day at the beaches in Phuket, with Airfares from Singapore to Phuket starting from SGD $290*. 
3 - Visit Tokyo Disneyland and re-live your childhood moments. Flights to Tokyo starting from SGD $250*.

*Prices are subjected to changes. For up to date, real time pricing, do conduct a live search at Wego.com.

Wego searches across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. This partnership will enable Preferred Hotel Group to promote its global portfolio of over 650 independent hotels and resorts to online visitors using Wego.com. Consumers will see the latest pricing and room availabilities for Preferred Hotel Group member properties.

“We recognize the importance of partnerships with vertical search engines as a cost-effective channel to increase our online distribution, as well as promoting brand awareness directly to potential guests. There is no doubt that Wego will assist in significantly increasing our online market share through rate transparency,” commented Mark Wong, Vice President, Marketing and Development - Asia Pacific.

Wego Founder & Chief Commercial Officer Craig Hewett said, “We are delighted to be working with Preferred Hotel Group as their portfolio offers our users a selection of the finest independent hotel and resort properties worldwide. This year is set to be a year of great growth for Wego, in terms of new product features and increasing user traffic, all of which are sure to benefit partners like Preferred Hotel Group.”

About Preferred Hotel Group
Celebrating 40 years of excellence, Preferred Hotel Group is a global leader in the hospitality industry, delivering high-performance sales, marketing, and technology solutions to more than 650 independent hotels and resorts in over 75 countries. Its family of brands represents a collection of the finest hotels in the world and include: Preferred Hotels® & Resorts (www.PreferredHotels.com), Preferred Boutique™ (www.PreferredBoutique.com), Summit Hotels & Resorts™ (www.SummitHotels.com), Sterling Hotels™ (www.SterlingHotels.com) and Historic Hotels of America™ (www.HistoricHotels.org). For more information, please visit www.PreferredHotelGroup.com.

In September 2007, the company entered the luxury real estate market with the launch of Preferred Residences™ - a membership and exchange program for luxury shared ownership resorts that provides an exceptional level of service and amenities. Properties are held to exacting standards derived from the same Preferred Global Standards of Excellence™ on which the company has built its 40-year heritage in the hospitality industry. For more information, please visit www.PreferredResidences.com.

ASPAC MEDIA CONTACT:
Christine Cheong
Manager, Communications - Asia Pacific
Preferred Hotel Group
Tel: +852 3111 1898 | Fax: +852 3115 7770
CCheong@PreferredHotelGroup.com

About Wego.com
Wego.com (formerly Bezurk.com) allows travelers to search for flights, hotels, travel deals and travel research across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book. Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the Australian digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor. In 2007, Business 2.0 magazine named Bezurk as one of “31 of the world’s hottest international web startups.” For more information, please visit www.wego.com/about.

SINGAPORE, 8 September 2008 – Asia’s fastest growing travel search engine Wego.com has recently added multiple new airline, hotel, online travel agent and tour operator partners, which will further enhance consumer experience in Internet travel shopping.

Leading the new additions are:

• Ctrip, a leading Chinese online travel agency
• Cleartrip, a leading Indian online travel agency
• Air China, the national flag carrier of China
• Hainan Airlines, a Chinese domestic airline
• Oberoi Hotels, an Indian luxury hotel chain

The addition of these partners brings the total number of travel sites through which Wego users can search and compare prices for air fares, hotel rates and packages to 116.

“We’re thrilled to get so many new partners aboard so soon after we launched Wego in May of this year,” says Craig Hewett, Wego’s Founder and Chief Commercial Officer. “We see the addition of different types of travel sites from all over the region as a sure sign of confidence in Wego and the travel search engine business model.”

Also announced were new partnerships with Excite Holidays, an online travel agency from Australia, Aero International, an online travel agency from Hong Kong and Country Holidays and Easyway Travel, tour operators from Singapore.

Since the site re-branded from Bezurk to Wego in May 2008, there has seen significant traffic growth. For 2008 as a whole, monthly traffic has increased by 2½ times. Wego also recently launched wego.com.au in Australia, the first of many local sites the company will be introducing throughout the Asia Pacific region.

“We are committed to delivering highly qualified and ready-to-buy online travel shoppers to our partners,” adds Hewett. “All throughout Asia Pacific, more and more people are now traveling and using Wego to research and book travel. It’s these Internet savvy, value-conscious travelers that Wego is designed to serve and deliver to our travel partners.”

Content from Excite Holidays, Country Holidays and Easyway Travel can already be found in Wego search results. The rest of the new partners will be integrated in the coming weeks.

[For Wego.com logos and screen grabs: www.wego.com/mediakit]

For media queries about this story, please contact:

DEBBIE R COLOMA
PR & Media Consultant for Wego.com
DRC Media Consultancy
Email: debbie.coloma@mac.com

About Wego.com

Wego.com (formerly Bezurk.com) allows travelers to search for flights, hotels, travel deals and travel research across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book. Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the Australian digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor. In 2007, Business 2.0 magazine named Bezurk as one of “31 of the world’s hottest international web startups”. For more information, please visit www.wego.com/about.

We’re looking for folks who have a solid Java background with good knowledge in Spring, Tomcat, JMS, and threading issues. Familiarity with Linux, Maven 2 and Ant is important. We would also appreciate people who can value add to our team in Rock Band skills or Winning 11 ability.

If this sounds like you then please send your resume and an email explaining why you are the right person for the job directly to devel+javadev@wego.com

SYDNEY July 28, 2008 – Finding the best flights, hotels, deals and research – quickly – for Australian or international travel is now easier than ever with today’s launch of www.wego.com.au.

Wego.com.au allows travelers to search more than 100 sites in the time it takes to search just one.

Wego.com.au is not a booking site but an indispensable tool for travellers looking for totally unbiased information, free of charge. Wego.com.au finds the best products to buy and connects people to the best sites to buy them from.

The site shows all-inclusive pricing (i.e. including taxes and fuel surcharges) to avoid any surprises. Travelers see the real price at the beginning, rather than at the end, of the booking process

Better still, wego.com.au searches multiple travel sites in real time to ensure that the prices shown are actually available. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book.

“‘Before you go, Wego’ is our message to travelers. We’ve done the hard work for travelers to make it as easy as possible for them to research and book their travel both for Australia and overseas,” said Wego Chief Executive Officer Martin Symes.

“Our vision is that Wego is the first place Australians go when looking for flights, hotels, deals, packages and, shortly, car hire. We are also constantly improving our site to integrate more partners and add more useful features.”

Where people buy their travel online can make all the difference in getting the best deal, which is why searching on Wego is an essential step when planning a trip, he added.

Wego.com.au is the new local site for Wego (formerly Bezurk), the region’s fastest growing online travel company.

Symes said Australians would love wego.com.au’s fast search capabilities and features that include:

• Comprehensive content specifically for Australian travelers, including multiple major airlines, hotel chains and online travel agencies – with more to come in the near future
• All prices shown are inclusive of taxes, fuel charges and service fees etc wherever possible allowing users to see the total price upfront, not at the end, of the booking process
• Flight schedules application showing just about every direct flight on earth along with the top 50 connecting flight options
• Airfares-only search option allows a quick overview of the current best fares for each flight without having to run a full real-time search
• Rich descriptive content for the 100,000+ hotels on the site including multiple photos, maps and amenity information
• Wego Travel Research tool – a proprietary search engine that searches only hand-picked, high quality travel related websites – helps cut through the clutter of generic search engine results.
• Filters and other easy-to-use tools that make finding the right travel product easier than ever before.

About Wego.com.au

Wego.com.au is the Australian site of region’s leading and fastest growing travel search engine. Wego (formerly known as Bezurk) allows travelers to search for flights, hotels, travel deals and travel research across more than 100 travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book.

Wego.com was founded in Singapore in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor. In 2007, Business 2.0 magazine named Bezurk as one of “31 of the world’s hottest international web startups”. For more information, please visit www.wego.com.au/about

Watch Wego.com on Channel NewsAsia’s That’s IT, See what Timonthy Goh has to say about our price sliders, final price fares and more..

Conduct a live flight search or view our Beijing airfare and flights guide

For Beijing Hotels accommodations near the Olympic Village, you can look up the following hotels Crowe Plaza Hotel Beijing, Kingwing Hot Spring International Hotel or our full list of Cheap Beijing Hotels. Alternatively you could conduct a live hotels search on our hotel search engine. The current hotel prices range from USD $90 for 3 Star hotels to USD $494 for 5 Star hotels

Information on the Beijing Olympics 
- Olympic Games Schedules 
- Official Beijing Olympic Website
- Olympic Venues in Beijing
- Event Tickets

“Wego’s transformation is that it gives you from the outset the base fare alongside the real fare (inclusive of fuel surcharges and other taxes), and lets you compare prices offered by the hitherto unchallenged www.zuji.com. With such transparency, Wego might be the new travel guru to follow.”

Read more on the writeup

There are 3 rounds of paintball and every round gets harder with goals getting more complicated, requiring more shooting and pumped-up adrenaline .  The next scenes appear to have come from a war movie as players boldly run from their hiding places shooting like action stars, rolling on the grass, doing their Rambo moves, while some just hid in their turf occasionaly firing their marker to unsuspecting targets.

At the end of the day it doesnt really matter who shot the most number of enemies or who got the less number of wounds but that everyone didn’t mind getting dirty and sweaty to play this game of the brave. The bruises, wounds and aching old muscles are only some of the souvenirs of paintball, but the real keepsake is the chance to bond with the team and for some, to shoot at that person who keeps bothering them at work (Peace!)

Paintball day was capped by a sumptuous dinner at Sunset Grill and Bar which serves the best buffalo wings. Their buffalo wings have increasing level of spicyness that ranges from 1 to 10 with 10 as the uber spicy.  We were warned that level 3 is almost unbearable in spicyness but our hungry paintball players wanted some more challenge and tried the level 10. Those who took a bite of the forbidden chicken wing ended up drinking more milk than they could have wanted… but that’s another story.